12.31.2013

WOAH! What a year. My number might be low, but this year packed one hell of a punch with some awesome reads.

Next year, my plans are to switch things up a bit. Can you believe I've never read a book before it was made into a movie before? Nope, not even the Harry Potter series. So the banner for the Divergent looked good, so yes, that'll be the one. And it's a YA, so it's a one-bird/two-stones kind of thing.

I'm also going to, wait for it, ...give a go at some reads that fall nowhere near the Romance genre. Gasp, right?

The New Goal: 10 Books from my TBR pile... that have been collecting dust for years.

After being made a scapegoat in a botched investigation that led to a child's death, Aidan McConnell became a recluse. Still, as a favor to an old friend, Aidan will help on the occasional XI case. But under his handsome, rugged facade, he keeps his emotions in check--for fear of being burned again.

Reporter Lexie Nolan has a nose for news--and she believes a serial killer has been targeting teen girls around Savannah. But no one believes her. So she turns to the new paranormal detective agency and the sexy, mysterious Aidan for help.

But just as the two begin forging a relationship, the case turns eerily personal for Lexie--and Aidan discovers that maybe he hasn't lost the ability to feel after all.

Despite all of his success using his psychic abilities to find lost persons, one wrong move, resulting in a young boy's lost life, has cost Aidan everything. Oh, he'll help out every now and then. Anonymously. But even his friends can't manage to pull him back, until reporter Lexie Nolan gets a second chance at salvaging her reputation, and seeks out Aidan in a desperate attempt to find the missing girls only a select few even believe are actually missing.

I tried to finish this book in one sweep, but then it happened- Reaver arrived- and Cold Sight was put on the back burner. It's quite telling when one could actually walk away from a book without looking back. But it's not all CS's fault. Reaver is awesomeness!

I was, to an extent, enthralled by Aidan and Lexie's chemistry. However, getting sidetracked into the mind of the killer put a big damper on things. Strange, because I usually like that little detail, but in this case, the killer was way too boring.

Reaver is an angel with a past, a record, and a less-than-heavenly attitude. Powerful enough to fight alongside the fiercest battle angels-and crazy enough to risk his wings on a one-way mission to hell-he's agreed to go where no angel has ever gone before...to steal the most seductive and dangerous prize of Satan himself.

ANGEL OF HELL

Harvester is one of the Fallen, a once-heroic angel who sacrificed her wings to work as an undercover agent in hell. But now her cover has been blown, and she's been doomed to an eternity of agonizing torture. Even if Reaver can snatch her away from Satan's lair, even if they can fight their way out of the underworld's darkest depths, there is one thing Harvester can never escape-her newfound thirst for an angel's blood.

:: This post contains SPOILERS ::

As we mindblowingly established in the last book, Reaver was once Yenrieth, the angel who fathered the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Here, we find that Harvester was once Virienne, the angel daughter of Satan (conceived before he fell) who once loved Yenrieth to the point of devastation.

Harvester chose to fall from Heaven and become a spy knowing full well that should she ever be discovered, no one would save her. But when Reaver learns the truth of her actions, and of the protection she's spent centuries bestowing upon his children, he risks his wings and very life to go after her. It should be noted that Reaver has no memory of ever being Yenrieth, and Harvester has no idea that they are one in the same, having his image completely wiped from her memory.

"I remember me. And you. I remember us."

As the two flee Hell, the pasts of Yenrieth and Virienne come flowing. Yenrieth was an ass. Virienne was a weak, besotted fool. And they were the best of friends, until they ultimately betrayed one another. Now, Harvester and Reaver are left to answer for the actions of their former selves and fight for the chance to actually be together in the face of Lucifer's upcoming rebirth and Raphael's twisted sense of right.

“Why did you kiss me back at the cavern?”
Too flustered to form a clever response, she said simply, “To annoy you.”
He laughed, a hearty, soul-deep sound. “You do that a lot. You always have.”
Always have? He made it sound like they’d known each other for centuries.
“Did it work?”
“Oh, yeah.” He shifted, lifting his hips, and the motion put his erection fully against her sex as she straddled him. “It annoyed me. It would annoy me if you did it again.”

Once free, Harvester is rewarded back her wings, just as Reaver's are cut from him and he is once more an Unfallen. Until, that is, it's revealed that Reaver is a Radiant, the strongest of all angels. His wings are returned, now golden and Harvester is once again assigned as the Four Horsemen's Watcher, albeit for the side of Heaven now. And Revenant, the hero of the next installment, is placed as the Watcher for Hell. And, btw, Revenant is Reaver's twin brother.

He can summon lightning at will. Emerge unscathed from the center of a tornado. Strip a woman down to her barest defenses through the sheer force of his sexuality. He’s gorgeous, dangerous, and the target of parameteorologist Haley Holmes’s latest mission.

Haley has been dispatched to the Louisiana bayous to investigate the phenomenon known as Remy Begnaud–a man with a gift he never wanted: the ability to control a storm’s fury. But even a woman trained in bizarre weather phenomena has no defense against the electrifying power of the ex-Navy SEAL...a power his enemies would kill to control. With her agency monitoring their every move, Haley’s job is to seduce Remy, gain his trust–and help him harness his extraordinary gift.

But who will protect her from this voracious lover who’s introducing her to a new world of erotic thrills—a man who grows increasingly insatiable with each new weather event? Haley knows a big storm is approaching—and with it will come unexpected delights. But so, too, will the storm unleash her greatest fears: an enemy bent on destroying Remy. And her worst fear of all—falling in love with this magnificent man, then having to betray him.

Read just ten percent of this book and you'll never see storms in the same light again.

Remy, or T-Remy as they call him in his neck of the woods, needs a woman who can handle him in bed.

And just like Remy needs a certain type of woman... their story needs a certain type of reader. Waaaayyy too much smut going on, as ironic as that may sound. I think I filled my quota for the next year.

Honestly, the main story was nothing but a fuck-ton of sex scenes and I found myself more drawn to the back story, if it can even be called that, of Annika and Creed. The two ACRO agents have been sent by Dev to do some investigating in his childhood home where a pissed off ghost still abides. The two can't stand eachother because, basically, they tempt one another far too much. But while Creed is ready and eager to go one on one with Annika's heart and body, Annika still hides behind the guise of being Dev's woman. Until--she discovers Creed is the one man with an immunity to her powers.

12.06.2013

Quinn Burnes's mother disappeared when he was only fifteen leaving him with a despondent father, a little sister who suffers panic attacks, and eight notebooks containing the truth about his mother. He guards this secret for eighteen years, until on an otherwise normal day, his mother re-enters his life, pleading for his help. She's in danger and the only thing that can save her is reclaiming the identity she shunned years ago.

Quinn is a master of emotional detachment, from his successful career as a personal injury attorney to his strings of meaningless relationships with beautiful women who possess uneasy temperaments; a sure formula to keep his heart safe and insure he's the first to walk away. Until he meets the mysterious 'Danielle' a woman with too many secrets who's on the run from the abusive, estranged husband she shot and may have killed. Danielle isn't like any woman he's ever met, but can he risk his heart for someone who's doing exactly what his mother did eighteen years ago? Someone who may ultimately leave him, just like his mother?

Quinn Burnes is all kinds of screwed up.

When Quinn was 15 years old his mother disappeared, leaving himself, his sister, and their father behind. Many feared foul play had taken her away but Quinn came to learn the truth when he discovered his mother's diaries. She hated her life.

Now, a success of an attorney and a cynical jerk, Quinn surrounds himself with people he doesn't stand a chance of getting attached to. Meanwhile, his little sister, Annie, has issues of her own-suffering panic attacks whenever Quinn or her fiance, Michael, are ever late or miss a call. But Annie doesn't know the truth of her mother's departure from her life and Quinn will do whatever it takes to spare her the pain of it.

Enter Danielle. Or, that's what she's calling herself now that she's on the run from an abusive husband--whom she murdered. Maybe.

So yes- twists, lies, cliches, and stereotypes construct this story well. I honestly think Campisi was aiming to spark a bit of hatred for each and every character involved. Obviously, the mother. But it was Quinn who kept my right hand itching to whack him upside the head with a blender. The guy could be such an ass.

Maggie Jordan is not supposed to be having adventures. Her mission is to go to Gaia, a new, unpopulated world, and study the native life forms there. So how come she finds herself in on the female dominated Yonnie Six instead, rescuing a huge, muscular prisoner? The same prisoner she keeps seeing over and over again in her dreams…

Korexiroth—or Kor, as Maggie dubs him, is a slave who spent his life fighting in the savage arenas of the Blood Circuit. He’s got plenty of kills under his belt and more than enough reasons to run as soon as he gets free. But somehow he can’t make himself part from the girl who was brave enough to save him from certain death.

Now Maggie and Kor are on the run together, trying desperately to find someone to remove the alien device that was implanted in Maggie as punishment for her thievery of an expensive slave. The device, or “slut button” as it is called, forces Maggie to sexual excesses the shy scientist has never known before—and Kor is the only one who can help her control her new urges.

Kor is more than willing to help Maggie satisfy her new sexual hunger but his own appetites are not so easily satiated. For there is a dark secret, a shadow from his past that stalks him and whispers of power beyond belief if only he will give himself over to darkness.

Will they find a way to return Maggie to normal? Will Kor admit how he really feels for her? Or with the shadow from his past succeed is tearing them apart?

It happened AGAIN. These darn Kindred books keep sneaking up on me. I had this one on the 2014 release shelf, but no... here it is, released November 29, 2013. Warning: This post contains major spoilers!

Kor, whose rightful name is Therron, has lived most of his life as a slave in the Blood Market, fighting, and fucking, according to his master's pleasure and greed. When he ends up sold to Lady Pope'nose, the sadistic male-hating, slave abuser from book seven, his sole focus is to survive without submitting.

And there, he begins to Dreamshare.

Maggie is an accident prone, science-loving, all-screwed-up-when-it-comes-to-men kind of female. She's been engaged for years to a man who's work obsessed, dislikes kissing, and whose manhood Maggie has come to see as a limp, little worm afraid to come out of his whole. When her paths cross with Kor as he's being paraded in his cell as a prize by Pope'nose, she risks her mission to collect the Kindred scrolls and sets him free.

And suddenly, Kor finds the single most beautiful, gentle thing his world has ever known. Her innocence and compassion, coupled with the dreams of her, leave Kor vowing to never let Maggie go.

They escape, as the situation presents itself, to a spa off world that is owned by beings who feed off of strong emotion-mostly pleasure. In playing the part of Pope'nose, Maggie is forced from her inhibitions and strangled by guilt from her disloyalty to her fiance. To save her, and to spare her, Kor mutilates himself and when an attack leaves Maggie disoriented and afraid, it's not Kor she cries out for, but Donald, and a bitter dose of reality hits Kor hard.

They part and Kor goes off on a quest for answers as to who is and why his eyes glow red and fire laser beams. Meanwhile, Maggie is captured by a vengeful Pope'nose, put into stasis for six months, and implanted with a living creature that forces sexual needs upon Maggie that she cannot escape.

Once more, the dreams set them free. Kor finds her, buys her, and goes on to fulfill her needs as they rise. Much to Maggie's shame and embarrassment. Their relationship is rather reminiscent of book seven wherein the man is forced to constantly comfort and reason out everything in order to do that. Where everything is not about want, but necessity.

Meanwhile, there is a supporting back story between a woman and Twin Kindred that leaves me fearful I will once again have to skip, or quickly skim, through the next book. *pout* I'm just not into threesomes.

4 out of 5 stars.

Book ten, Divided, is due out in 2014 (likely February). Two more are expected to follow.

Nicole Martin was only eight years old when the vampire slaves rose up in rebellion and killed her family. Now she devotes her life to finding a vaccine against vampirism, hoping to wipe out her memories—along with every bloodsucker on the planet. But there’s one thing she cannot destroy: her searing, undeniable attraction for the one man she should hate and fear the most...

A VAMPIRE OUT FOR REVENGE

A member of the renegade vampire MoonBound Clan, Riker is haunted by demons of his own. When he recognizes Nicole and remembers how her family enslaved his loved ones, his heart burns for vengeance. But when he kidnaps Nicole and holds her in a secret lair, his mortal enemy becomes his soul obsession, his greatest temptation, and, perhaps, his only salvation—a hot-blooded lover who could heal him with her touch... or bury him forever.

Eighty years ago, the existence of vampires was revealed.

Sixty years ago, the enslavement of the vampire race began.

Twenty years ago, the rebellion started.

When the midwife of the ShadowSpawn clan gets herself captured by humans while returning from the MoonBound clan's land, the ShadowSpawn hold MoonBound responsible, promising all out war if she is not returned to them. Riker, second in command to Hunter, knows they haven't the numbers to win. He offers up a plan: Capture and force Nicole Martin, CEO of Daedalus (the very company responsible for the continued enslavement of vampires) to release her.

But Nicole and Riker have a shared past of their own. One obscured by illusions and lies. Twenty years ago, Nicole watched as Riker held a knife to the throat of his mate, Terese, who served as a nanny to Nicole's family. Watched as Terese's life ended and everything Riker had was torn away from him. Riker blames Nicole and her entire family for the enslavement of his people and the death of his mate and their unborn son while Nicole lives in hatred towards Riker for taking away the only person that ever truly loved her.

It is only when the two become one another's sole chance of survival that the truth of that night is revealed and both begin to realize that neither of them are the monsters they once believed each other to be. Nicole sets out to make things right, confronted by the horrible actions of the company she is responsible for, and earns the trust of many of the MoonBound clan members. Such includes Grant, their clan scientist and necessary doctor who's not all there in the head; Lucy, a childlike female vampire with a love of chocolate; and Myne, Riker's closest friend save for Hunter, the clan's fearless, video game addicted leader. (Fuck you, Spyro!)

Hunter and Myne are all that's left of the true born vampires.

Riker was turned by his own military as an experiment to produce the perfect soldier. He was mated to Terese, a mild mannered, fragile female vamp as a strategic move among the clans by Hunter. He grew to love her and blames himself terribly for failing her. Since her death, he has never taken another female to his bed.

Cat-like vampires do nothing for me. Thankfully, these sexy bitches are nothing but wolf! There's no bat references. No hissing like crack addicted cats. They don't fly. They don't leap buildings. But what they do... is kick some serious ass, rip out fuck tons of throats, and spill enemy blood like nobody's business.

They also don't feed like newborn babes.

They can mate without feeding. That alone has some serious anti-stereotype factor. And I ate up every single bit of it! I can't remember the last time I had to have my husband physically take a book out of my hand to enable me to stop reading but at two a.m. it had to happen with this one. Oh yes, Ione's worlds have a gravitational pull all their own.

::SPOILERS BELOW::

When failure once more falls upon Riker, he surrenders himself to the -- clan, leaving behind his newly discovered, very much alive son (though not his by blood) and also Nicole, who is finally succumbing to the vampire virus.

Nicole survived a vampire attack when the slave's rebelled, and although she was injected with what should have been a vaccine to vampirism, she was forced to let Riker attempt to turn her when her half-brother, Chuck, held them both hostage and demanded Riker turn her as what amounted to a science experiment.

During Riker's imprisonment, he is shown mercy only by Ailyn, the youngest of the twin daughters of the ShadowSpawn's chief, Kars. She's been deemed unfit for mating, and fighting, while her vicious elder sister, Rasha, is considered a prize of a female. In the end, to save Nicole, Riker, and their unborn child, Hunter vows to give Kars what he's wanted for years-Hunter agrees to mate his daughter. Obviously, Rasha.

But Hunter is cursed. And so, he summons the demon whom his grandfather bargained with to be released from the curse of having to give over the firstborn child of he and his mate. The Demon, Sam -yes, Sam- gives him an out although warns him that he'll die in the end. Hunter must take one of the twins with him on a quest. Obviously, he should, and will, choose Ailyn.

Loved it! Loved every damn minute of it... even though I have to wait nine freaking months to continue it!! 5 out of 5 stars.